Free Republic

Hurricane Katrina wiped out "Camp Casey" and that could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. The storm diverted attention from Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest in Crawford, Texas and caused President Bush to ditch his vacation and high-tail it back to Washington where, reports say, Ms. Sheehan will follow. Like the Terri Schiavo controversy a few months ago, the Cindy Sheehan saga contains some peril for ideologues, even though they might not know it. Smart conservatives realized that fanatical rantings about the health of Ms. Schiavo and criticism of a Florida judge who appeared...

NEW YORK (AFP) - The American 20-dollar 1933 "double eagle" is one of the rarest and most valuable coins in the world. Joan Langbord of Philadelphia found 10 of them, and now the US government has taken them away. Compounding Langbord's sense of loss -- a double eagle auctioned in 2002 sold for a world-record 7.6 million dollars -- is the fact that it was her own decision to inform the government of her discovery that led to their confiscation. The 10 coins were hidden for decades in the possessions of Langbord's father, Israel Switt, who ran an antique jewelry...

OREM - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a leading spokesman of the anti-immigration movement, encouraged Utahns to join the fight to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and keep undocumented workers from coming to the country. "Be vigilantes," said the Colorado Republican with a chuckle during a public forum Wednesday night. "The federal government has failed you - it's up to you." Tancredo spoke to a crowd of roughly 240 adults and children, mostly Anglos except for a handful of minorities, at Lakeridge Junior High School. His 25-minute speech started and ended with a standing ovation, and later a man asked Tancredo to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (KRT) - Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium: Loads of more rain in this continuing Midwest monsoon of an August. Hard at times, too. And extra innings. No complaints from the Royals, though. Not after pulling out a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in 11 innings.

OAKLAND -- It took right-hander Mike Wood 92 pitches to do it but he got through five innings and gave the Oakland Athletics just one run. And that's all they got as the Royals ended their 19-game skid with a 2-1 victory over the A's on Saturday night. But it proved to be a struggle. "It was a battle the first three innings. I think I threw 70 pitches, then I settled down the next two. We had to have quick innings and then the bullpen took it over," Wood said. After Wood was relieved by left-hander Andrew Sisco, trouble...

By ANDREW POLLACK Published: August 19, 2005 DOUGLAS, Ariz., Aug. 18 - Spent shells litter the ground at what is left of the firing range, and camouflage outfits still hang in a storeroom. Just a few months ago, this ranch was known as Camp Thunderbird, the headquarters of a paramilitary group that promised to use force to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border with Mexico. Now, in a turnabout, the 70-acre property about two miles from the border is being given to two immigrants whom the group caught trying to enter the United States illegally. The land transfer...

Today Hispanics are 14% of the U.S. population. About half were born outside the U.S., but most want to blend into American society. Country of Ancestry: Mexico 58%, Puerto Rico 10%, Spain & Cuba 5%....... Place of birth: Mainland US 46%, Elsewhere 49% How important is it for Latinos to blend into the larger US society? Very important 64%, somewhat important 24%, Not too important 5%, not at all important 3%...... Primary language spoken at home: Spanish 43%, English 32%, both 23% How serious a problem is illegal immigration? Extremely 29%, Very 32%, somewhat 22%, not very 13%.... Political affiliation:...

The politics of immigration are changing. On Friday Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, declared a "state of emergency" in four New Mexico border counties due to "a chaotic situation involving illegal alien smuggling and illegal drug shipments." His office has pledged $1.5 million for stepped-up law enforcement and also asked Chris Simcox, the president of the volunteer border patrol group Minutemen, for a meeting. Mr. Richardson, a man who wears his ambition for national office on his sleeve, has apparently decided he has to reposition himself on border issues. He's not the only Democrat to do so. Sen....

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Two foster parents are accused of putting a 9-year-old girl in a dog cage as a form of discipline. The Clinton Township couple is expected to face charges of second-degree child abuse Friday for the alleged incident, according to Local 4. Police said the girl asked permission to go to a friend's home, but the foster parents would not allow her to go. The child ran away, and the foster parents went to retrieve the girl from the neighbor's house, Local 4 reported. The parents then allegedly put the child in a large dog crate and...

PHOENIX - Arizonans who show up at the polls without some form of acceptable identification will be denied a ballot, perhaps as soon as local elections this November. On Friday, Secretary of State Jan Brewer revealed her proposal for procedures election workers will have to follow to determine who gets to vote. Brewer said the plan complies with the requirement of Proposition 200, approved by voters in November, which mandates ID both to register and vote. "Voters who produce no ID will not be provided a ballot and will be instructed to return with an appropriate identification," Brewer said. Her...

For all the women who look down on their ample thighs with loathing: Fret no more. There is new reason to love that dimpled plumpness. For many people, mainly women, fat on legs, hips, and buttocks may actually help ward off heart disease and diabetes, recent research suggests. University of Colorado researchers reported this week that in a study of 95 women past menopause, being bottom-heavy was linked to better scores on several ominous markers in the blood, including triglycerides and high sugar levels. When women were also heavy above the waist, most advantages of the leg fat vanished, but...

Presidential poll gives Colo. congressman 1% WASHINGTON - It's official: Rep. Tom Tancredo is a blip on the 2008 presidential radar. Tom Tancredo's name was misspelled on survey group's Web site. A new poll shows Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, pulling 1 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, home of the traditional first-in-the-nation presidential primary election. American Research Group Inc. surveyed 600 likely Republican primary voters - including 433 Republicans and 167 undeclared voters - from Aug. 5 to 7. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., led with 39 percent, followed by "undecided" at 32 percent. Among others: former House Speaker Newt...

CARLSBAD – Police from several jurisdictions, most wearing riot gear, formed a barrier to keep the peace between those attending a forum on illegal immigration and protesters who ranged from Latino activists to Muslim students. While more than 100 protesters jeered, the public forum featuring Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and other vocal opponents of illegal immigration expounded on how health care, homeland security, education, the economy and the environment are affected by undocumented immigrants. "Today we have the worst enforcement we've ever had in the history of our country," Pete Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego, said. With...

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today dismissed a lawsuit filed in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 200. The court said the plaintiffs had not shown they had been injured by the implementation of the new law. I am pleased with the outcome. The voters made a decision last November, and I promised my office would vigorously defend the constitutionality of the law, said Attorney General Terry Goddard said. This decision allows us to continue implementing Proposition 200. Friendly House, a nonprofit social service agency in Phoenix that works with immigrants, filed the suit. Since Arizona voters...

DELTA - Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, knows his efforts to stem illegal immigration are succeeding not because he's receiving support in Congress - it's the other way around. "For the first time in seven years, (my opponents) are trying to stop me instead of me trying to stop them," the outspoken representative told the Daily Press in an interview before his speech in Delta Monday night. "That's why I know we are winning." Tancredo spoke to more than 100 people at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center about the dangers of illegal immigration. The crowd was overwhelmingly supportive of Tancredo; people...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE AUG 09, 2003 08:02:25 ET XXXXX JAGGER ROCKS BUSH, RICE: 'HOW COME YOU'RE SO WRONG, MY SWEET NEO-CON' "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/ You call yourself a patriot. Well, I think your are full of sh*t!... How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con." Ready to drop in the coming weeks, a new Bush-bashing tune from the ROLLING STONES: "Sweet Neo Con." "It is direct," Mick Jagger says with a laugh to fresh editions of NEWSWEEK. "Keith [Richards] said, 'It's not really metaphorical.' I think he's a bit worried because...

WASHINGTON -- Elsie Frank, the mother of U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and Democratic strategist Ann Lewis, died Sunday in Boston. She was 92. Recently diagnosed with cancer, she died at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said Steve Adamske, a spokesman for Barney Frank.

(CNSNews.com) - A report by a voting rights group regarding allegations of voter fraud, intimidation and suppression during the 2004 presidential election has found that "paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression activities than were their Republican counterparts during the 2004 presidential election." The report by the American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund found that thousands "were disenfranchised by illegal votes cast and a coordinated effort by members of certain 'nonpartisan' organizations to rig the election system through voter registration fraud in more than a dozen states." For example, the report noted, paid Democrat...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) denounced the Republican elite’s emerging campaign to outmaneuver the party’s base on the issue of immigration control and border security. Former high-level officials at the RNC and the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign are orchestrating a multi-million dollar effort on behalf of big business to sell the President’s illegal alien amnesty plan, The Los Angeles Times reported this morning. “Let me get this straight. Our most loyal supporters give up their vacations to walk door-to-door for our Republican candidates. They hand out bumper stickers and put out yard signs. They convince coworkers which way to...

Thank God. I mean, thank God there was a screechy and pointless uproar over the fact that violence-addled teenagers can, via a free downloadable patch, watch badly animated semi-explicit soft-core sex scenes interspersed throughout the No. 1 best-selling video game, "Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas." 'Cuz you know, there you are, eyes bloodshot and fingers sore and synapses raw and butt prematurely widening, cranking along on your 117th hour of the insanely popular GTASA, and you're bustin' heads and makin' drug deals and swipin' cars and gang-bangin' and stuff is blowin' up all around. And there's tons of guns and...